NL West Notes: Posey, Moores, Page

Don't expect any inter-sport recruiting from Todd Helton. The veteran first baseman says he isn't planning to try and sell his friend Peyton Manning about possibly coming to Denver, after reports surfaced that Manning was making a free agent visit to the NFL's Denver Broncos. The two were teammates on the University of Tennessee's football team, and Helton was briefly the Volunteers' starting quarterback before Manning took over.

Curiously enough, this isn't the only NFL-related item within this roundup of news from around the NL West…

The Giants and Buster Posey agreed to terms on a one-year, $615K contract for 2012, reports Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle. Posey will be eligible for arbitration for the first time next winter and Schulman reported last week that no extension talks were planned between Posey and the team before Opening Day. The Giants now have all 19 of their pre-arbitration players under contract for 2012 — most received salaries at or slightly above the Major League minimum of $480K except Posey and Madison Bumgarner ($575K).

Padres majority owner John Moores talked to Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union-Tribune about Jeffrey Moorad's decision to drop his attempt to buy a controlling interest of the team. "This was a done deal a long time ago," Moores said. "But it’s not the worst situation in the world to sit in the owner’s seat from time to time for another season — though I am conflicted about it, no question.” Moores praised Moorad for stepping back so the club could get its new TV contract approved before Opening Day.

The Dodgers have signed former Minnesota Vikings safety Jarrad Page to a minor league contract, reports MLB.com's Ken Gurnick (via Twitter). Page has played in the NFL since 2006, but was not expected to be re-signed by the Vikings once the NFL's free agency period opens on Tuesday. A well-regarded high school baseball prospect, Page was drafted by the Brewers in 2002 before deciding to attend UCLA, and was also drafted by the Rockies in 2005 and the Angels in 2006. Page attended an open tryout with the Dodgers last week and has signed as an outfielder.

Nobody is acting that way. I think we all saw the “minor league contract” part. He is still tasked with learning to play pro baseball at age 27, which is no small feat. What I don’t get is the posters who thought this was a story about football.